


The Twelve Days of Christmas

by merciki



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: AU, Canon, Drabbles, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 12:25:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 3,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8979625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merciki/pseuds/merciki
Summary: A collection of drabbles written for @loveinpanem on tumblr.A prompt a day.





	1. Snow

Snow.  
It was always cold, meaning my sister would starve. That I would nearly die.

Now, it’s warm and full of joy, as I watch my children build a snowman with their father.


	2. Carol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, getting married at Christmas is the new thing :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my deepest thanks to the awesome @titaniasfics and @dandelion-sunset for betaing :)

“Do you think they will carol, too?” Peeta asked his longtime girlfriend, sitting next to him on the pews of the St Mary’s church, as they both watched his brother Ryan getting married to his childhood best friend, Delly.

“I hope not. Getting married on Christmas eve is crazy enough,” Katniss whispered back, her hand reaching for Peeta’s. “You sure you don’t regret not being next to Rye?” she asked, for at least the tenth time this week.

Peeta turned his head slightly, taking her in in her purple dress and black vest, shaking his head no. “Nah, that’s for Philip. I have too much work at the bakery to be one hundred percent into these duties. And I had to do the cake.”

“But you went to the bachelor party.”

“You went to Delly’s…”

“There wasn’t any stripper.” 

Peeta hid his laugh behind his hand.

“How long have we been together now, Love? Four years. And before that, we were friends. I’ve known you since Kindergarten and you have never, ever been able to tell a lie. Never.”

Katniss sighed, leaning closer to him, close enough to whisper in his ear. 

“He didn’t hold a candle to you. it was kind of boring to see all the girls throwing themselves at him, really.”

“And you didn’t?” Peeta asked back.

“I have better at home, why would I drool over someone else?” Katniss leaned closer to Peeta, revelling in his warmth. “But I wouldn’t mind you stripping for me, you know?”

“Kat… We’re in a church, at my brother’s wedding, you can’t say things like that to me!” he said, moving their entwined hands to make her feel what she indeed was doing to him. 

“But... later?”

“Oh yeah. Definitely,” he whispered, sure his voice had dropped an octave.

They watched the rest of the ceremony quietly, Katniss only breaking into laughter when the church’s choir started singing “Jingle Bells” as the newlyweds left the altar.


	3. Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> twinkle, twinkle, little star ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the awesome @xerxia31 for her beta skills :)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,  
How I wonder what you are!  
Up above the world so high,  
Like a diamond in the sky.  
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,  
How I wonder what you are!

 

It’s her voice that makes me weak in the knees, always.  
For as long as I’ve known her, it has always been her voice that brought me emotions, moved my core… made me hate her in the darkest of my days, or love her all of the other days.

I see her now, as she sings to the baby she carries in her arms - our daughter. 

Some days I can’t really believe she’s alive.  
That after the lives we had, after all the deaths, the sadness, that something so unbelievable came to us. Into a world that once was grey and so, so sad.

Now, the world in which we live is not perfect, far from it.

But when I look at Katniss and Hope, snuggled into her mother’s embrace, I’m happy.

And when Katniss looks back at me and smiles, I don’t need the stars in the sky or all the diamonds in the world.

I’ve already found my treasure.


	4. Holly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's Holly ???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much to @xerxia31 for betaing :)

“So, do you care to tell me who Holly is?” Katniss asked, as Peeta was coming back from his bedroom.

“Holly who?” Peeta answered, a question on his face.

“Holly who just called. Saying she’s all ready for you tonight?” Katniss sighed. “It’s another one of Finnick’s blind dates, right? I thought we agreed to go to the movies tonight?”

“Because now you pick up my phone? I think we need to establish boundaries in this friendship, Everdeen.” Peeta turned back to his room. 

“Boundaries? You mean I can’t come in whenever I want? And she left a message on your voicemail, so I heard. Who is she, by the way?” Katniss rose from her place on the couch, heading straight to Peeta’s fridge where she grabbed a cinnamon roll from the box he had brought home. If they weren’t going out, she needed some carbs to get through the evening.

Peeta’s head appeared through the door leading to his room. “No clue. I don’t know anyone called Holly. We have a movie date tonight, and that’s all.”

“You sure ? I can go home if you want?” 

“Absolutely not. You stay right where you are , Katniss.” His voice was muffled by the wooden door. “I’ll be right out.”

“Shmokay!” she answered, sugar falling from her lips. She shouldn’t have started the cinnamon rolls, she knew it. But oh well. 

\--   
She shouldn’t have eaten the cinnamon rolls, Katniss thought as she rested her head on Peeta’s chest, like so many other nights before.  
She could feel his hand on her waist, just under the hem of her shirt, barely touching her skin, like so many nights before.  
She knew that during the night, they would get even more entwined.  
But this time they wouldn’t have to pretend they didn’t sought the comfort of the other’s arms, or didn’t try to sneak out of the cocoon they spent the night in.

This time, she was pretty sure she would stay in the embrace of Peeta’s arms.

Because everything changed that night.

He hadn’t taken her to the movies.  
He had taken her to Holly’s, a restaurant he knew about, a tiny place where the food was delicious.

And he had asked her if she wanted more than friendship.

And god, did she want way more.  
So she told him what he had expected to hear.

“Always.”


	5. Tinsel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it itches ....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> xerxia; I can't thank you enough for everything you do for me :)  
> you're amazing :)

It itched.

It seriously itched.

The little ends tickled on her skin - and not in a good way.

Katniss was seriously starting to think it hadn’t been the brightest of ideas to cover herself in tinsel.

And only tinsel.

And then to wait for Peeta to come home, lying on the couch.

Because the friction of the tinsel on her skin was really bothersome.

And she was pretty sure she would have glitter up her ass for days to come.

But the look on Peeta’s face as he stepped into the living room, taking her in, red and green tinsel shining in the lights of the Christmas tree was her reward.

Turned out, she did have glitter up her ass for days after.

She couldn’t have cared less.


	6. Candy Cane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... or how to occupy kids :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to xerxia31 for her beta skills :)

The dinner was a disaster. Effie had run to the kitchen with red eyes, on the verge of crying, and Haymitch had gone out, followed by Katniss who promised to bring him back even if she had to grab him by a part of his body she could not mention in front of the kids.  
With a kiss on each of three heads, she headed into the dark of Christmas eve.

Leaving Peeta alone with three kids.

The two he and Katniss had, along with Effie and Haymitch’s son. 

The ruckus started as soon as Katniss had left the Abernathy’s house. Hope and Kaj started to pick at each other while Ewen, the smaller one and Hope’s brother, started to cry, as he couldn’t reach the candy canes laying on the table.

Soon the only sound in the room were the cries of the three kids at the table.

Peeta was playing with his bread, trying to figure out what he could do, when an idea came to his mind. 

He grabbed the two candy canes lying next to his and Katniss’s plates, and planted them in the small buns he had brought.

He started to whistle a soft song, a memory of a time past, an echo of a memory, while moving the two buns and their canes, as if they were the shoes of a dancing puppet.

The music came back to his head, and as the dance of the breads went on he felt memories of an old movie coming back, where a man had done exactly the same thing.

That’s how Katniss found them a few minutes later, Haymitch in tow behind her.


	7. Misteltoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Are you cold?" Peeta asked   
> How long will it take for Katniss to find the right answer?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you @dandelion-sunset for betaing :)

“Are you cold?” Peeta asked, whispering, not wanting to disturb the peace of the evening.

“No,” she replied, her hand on his knee, watching the snow dancing through the French windows.

They were on the couch, enjoying the quiet of the night.

“Are you cold?” he whispered again as his arm pressed against the fabric of her long-sleeved shirt.

Katniss looked at him, scowling, before she answered.

“No.” She said it a bit sharply, as if she was annoyed he had asked.

Peeta nodded, as if he was taking note of what she had just told him, only to  
turn towards her a few minutes later, asking again,  
“Are you cold?”

“What the hell is wrong with you, Peeta? How many times will you ask me whether I’m cold or not?” She looked beautiful, sitting in front of him in the light of the fire, her eyes ablaze. She was beautiful.

Peeta smiled, not afraid for one second of the fire in her grey pupils, or the scowl on her face.  
He let his hand wander up her arm before he answered her.

“As many times as it takes for you to say yes, so I can hold you in my hand and kiss you under the mistletoe.”

It was as if the clouds on Katniss’s face faded with the breeze of spring. Her scowl disappeared, her eyes found their peace again, she started to relax as a smile crept up her face.

She turned, again, setting her eyes on the dancing flakes out of the windows.

“Ask me again,” she whispered.

“Are you cold?”

She smiled, turning her head to look right into his eyes.

“Yes.”


	8. Candle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time has gone.... time to light a candle in memory of those who left

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you @dandelion-sunset and @titaniasfics for the betaing :)

“Why do we put a candle in the windows, Grandma?” Little Hope asked me on the day we started decorating our house for Christmas.

“To remember those who left us, Sweetie. So we keep them in our hearts.” 

“But if they left, they won’t see it? I don’t understand?” Ah, children’s logic. Her mother was the same at her age. Always curious and wise beyond her age. 

“Can you bring me the big book? The books with the images in them?” 

She nodded eagerly, running to the library where she picked the old leather-covered book in both hands.

“Thank you, Honey,” I said as she handed me the book. “Come sit with me, I’ll show you.”

But before I opened the book, I had to tell her things.

“You remember your history lessons, right? When they told you about the past?”

“The Games?” I nodded. ”Yes. It wasn’t a very fun time!”

No it wasn’t. But at eight-years-old, she was big enough to understand some things. I could see her mother, in the doorjamb of the living-room, nodding at me as I opened the book.

“In this book are all the people who fought so we could be free. To make sure nobody had to go through the Games again. We put a candle in the windows to honor them. To remember there was once a darker time, and we shouldn’t forget about it.”

“Why is there our name on the book, Grandma?”

“Because…. “ Even after all these years, it still hurt, to see the familiar name I still wear, because I’ll never be anything else than a Mellark. My husband understood why. “Because my parents were the ones who fought the most to make us happy, here and today. And I’ve missed them every single day since they left us.”

“Where are they now?”

“In the Meadow, with the rest of our families.”

“Will you take me there, Grandma? I want to light a candle for them.”

“We will, Sweat Pea. We will.”


	9. Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everlark meeting Spuffy. Who's in ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-ed by @titaniasfics and @dandelion-sunset .. thank you so much, ladies!

“You can’t be serious, right? Nobody in their right mind would choose Spike over Angel!”

Peeta raked his hand through his hair, rising from the couch he was sitting in. “Angel has a soul, at least. And, really? He’s much better looking than Spike! I can’t believe you would go for the bad boy like that, Kat. Really, what’s the appeal in a bleached blond bad boy without a soul?”

He turned to face his girlfriend as she leaned towards him, taking his hand out of his hair to lace his fingers through hers.

“I don’t know if I should be worried, really,” Katniss answered, not looking at him, but rather tracing the soft skin between his thumb and index.

“Worried? About what?” Peeta’s voice was nothing but surprised.

“You seem rather interested in Angel... Maybe… Tall, broody, dark and handsome is what you should be looking for? Maybe you should date… Gale?”

“You’re kidding, right, Katniss?” She felt his hands coming up to cup her face, forcing her to look at him. For once, he was the one scowling, a clear look of surprise on his usually happy face. “I’m not attracted to Gale! Or Angel? You know that I’m only attracted to you, right?”

Katniss leaned in, stopping just before reaching his lips, staring at Peeta. “I know.”

Without another word, she closed the tiny space that was still between them, feeling the softness of his lips grazing hers, the familiar pattern of his mouth as she rediscovered them for the uptenth time - but it always felt as if it was the first time.

She moved stealthily, leaning more and more, until his knees hit the sofa, Peeta’s back the cushions, and her hands, mimicking his, started to caress and fondle him over his clothes.

They had time, knowing each other so well, free from the rush of the first times, taking their turn at making the other almost fall over the edge until the desire and passion were too demanding, and they had to cave in. 

As Katniss slowly slipped her hand under Peeta’s shirt, deliberately tracing the lines of his abs before she lingered on that damn trail of darker hair teasing her every time, she climbed up his body to whisper in his ear.“It’s pretty good that you have a thing for brooding brunettes - because I happen to have a huge crush on a certain blonde, medium-height guy with blue eyes… And I know he can be a bad boy when he wants to.”

It was a cold, December night.


	10. Red And Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A companion piece to "Tinsel" !

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My deepest thanks to @xerxia 31 for her beta skills !!

It had been a long day at the bakery. Christmas brought an awfully long list of demands for cakes of all shapes and sizes, and Peeta always went all out with homemade Candy Canes, special muffins and treats for the holidays.

As much as he loved being in the bakery - his bakery, finally - all the extra time he spent there was time he did not spend with his second half, the love of his life, Katniss Everdeen.

He missed her when he spent hours kneading dough, imagining it was the flesh of her hips, or her glorious breasts.

He missed her when he had to wake up at a god-awful hour to finish an order, while she slept, peaceful, her bare shoulders peeking out from under the cocoon she had made of the sheets and blankets, stealing them all.

He missed the moments they spent together, watching TV, or going out together, just walking in the park nearby, enjoying each other’s presence.

And the nights … he missed the nights, when bodies melted together like chocolate and butter, when moans and whimpers echoed in the silence of the night, when they fell apart again and again to each other’s caresses, to each other’s hands and mouths - when they finally were one.

He sighed, shaking those thoughts out of his mind as he closed the bakery, finally.   
Tonight, he would be home almost on time. Tonight, they could spend the evening together, talking and laughing and making love as if they had all the time in the world.

The short walk to their building was too long that night, as he was eager to kiss Katniss senseless, to lay her down on the first surface they would find, and have hisr way with her, slowly, as she begged him to go faster and harder. He could feel himself harden just at the thought of it.

He climbed the steps two at a time, too impatient to wait for the elevator - and grateful for the exercise it gave him.

He hadn’t expect the apartment to be dark when he walked in.

Not totally dark, though. He could see the flashing lights of the Christmas tree illuminating the living room, and he sighed. Katniss had left the tree plugged in again, as she must have gone out to pick up one thing or another.

He took his shoes off, put his coat on the rack, and headed straight to the living room to unplug the tree, not wanting to spend Christmas homeless because they had inadvertently set the building on fire.

But Katniss hadn’t gone out to pick up one thing or another.

She was right there, sitting on their couch, wearing those god damned stilettos that made her legs look miles long, and nothing else.

Nothing but tinsels. A green one and a red one.

That glittered with the lights of the tree on her smooth skin.


	11. Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding the right tree isn't easy :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much to @titaniasfics and @dandelion-sunset for their beta skills !!

“This one - don’t you think?” Peeta pointed at the beautiful Nordmann tree standing in front of them, branches held proudly.

“Peeta, it’s too big… we’d have to move the sofa to just put it in.” 

“But it’s beautiful…” He started to pout, taking the large tree in. “We could put all the gifts under it and…”

“We’ll have to buy extra tinsel …” Katniss added, a small smile on her face as she looked at her man, usually calm and composed, behaving like a five-year-old in a toy shop.

“And would that be bad?” Peeta said again, moving closer to the tree, taking it by the trunk. “We’re of the same height. It’s a sign, right?”

“Peeta...” 

“Katniss? Baby, please?”

But Katniss wasn’t listening. She had seen something behind Peeta that caught her eye, something so different from the beautiful tree, something that made her heart beat faster.

“Peeta, look…” she said, moving forward, passing the beautiful large Nordmann in front of them, to uncover a smaller tree, all crooked, with two heads instead of one. “This one…”

Peeta left the large tree aside to take a closer look at what Katniss had seen.   
His hand found hers, their fingers intertwining together in the cold of the night.

The tree was broken, but still standing, finding its way through a tough life, just like they had done.

“You’re right. This is us.”

Katniss nodded.

They had finally found their tree.


	12. 12: Wreath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wreath. A gift. Given.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THank you to dandelion-sunset and titaniasfics for the betaing :)

She knocks on the door, shifting from one foot to the other. She’s never been to District 12 before and isn’t sure she knocked on the right door. She followed the instructions the man gave her - up the hill to Victor’s Village, third house on the right.

She can hear movements inside the house and starts to wonder if she should be here. She came by uninvited to this place - without knowing what reception she’d get.

The door finally opens, and here they are. Together, like that sad day a few years ago where she first saw them. They haven’t changed, but for their faces, aged before their time, only their eyes are more sparkling now. Finally, she thinks, finally they’re happy. 

She takes a deep breath.

“I’m sorry tp bother you, but…. well, you certainly don’t remember me, but I wanted to give you this….” She searches in her bag, taking out a wreath, made out of wood and wheat and hands it to them. “This is a traditional D11 wreath. I make one every year for my family’s house… I always make one for you, but I never dared come.” They remain in the door of their house, not moving. She can see the girl - no, woman now - has tears in her eyes. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want it, I mean…” The older woman starts to retract her arms when the girl’s hand stops her.

“Peeta?” Katniss asks. “We have a guest.”

Peeta nods, opening the door wider, before taking the wreath from the woman’s hands.

“Rue was family. Her mother is too. Come in, please.”

The door to the last Victors of the Hunger Games closed slowly, as the snow started to fall on the remnants of District 12.


	13. 13 : Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My deepest thanks to xerxia for the help by betaing :)

“Peeta! We said only one gift…. and you already gave me three!”

“Well, what can I say, you gave me two, so … You cheated on your own rules.”

“I didn’t cheat! The canvases go with the paints ! They just didn’t fit in the same package!”

“Tomato, to-ma-to,” Peeta answered, taking the last wrapped gift from under the tree, handing Katniss the large flat box. “And don’t tell me you don’t want to know what’s inside.”

“I do…” she groaned, taking the box, shredding the paper before opening the velvet package in her hands.

That proved to have several tiny boxes in it. With numbers on them.

“Open them in their order, please.”

She opened the first one.  
Inside, was a folded paper. Opening it carefully, she saw a beautiful sketch Peeta had made for her. A dandelion, shining in the sun, almost real.  
“Peeta - it’s … “ she started, at a loss for words.

“I remember when we were kids, and we were playing in Meadow Park - we blew so many of them…”

“We did…” Katniss’s voice was lost in the past, in their childhood, so long ago .

She continued opening the boxes, in the right order, one after another, finding little trinkets - a bow and arrow charm for her bracelet, or a poem he had copied - until only one box remained.

Katniss opened it slowly - and she lost her breath. 

Inside, on the white velvet, was sitting a ring. Not the usual golden or silvery ring with a diamond on it, but a simple ring made out of what appeared to be a type of plant, strong enough to bend, strong enough to not fade.

“Peeta….”

“I wanted to propose in the summer, at our lake, after we had made love, but given the year we’ve had, I didn’t want to wait. I want to marry you, and we will go to a jeweler and find you the ring you deserve, I promise. That’s all I could find on such a short notice.”

“It’s perfect ….”

“So what does that mean? Will you?”  
“Of course!”

She put the green ring on her finger before walking straight to Peeta.

The celebration was about to begin.


End file.
